Miami Dolphins: The Ballad Of Nate Garner

November 20, 2009|Posted by Ethan J. Skolnick on November 20, 2009 12:40 AM

When was the last time he played three positions in a game?

"Never."

When was the last time he played center?

"Never in a game before."

Except that wasn't exactly true.

"Well, there were two snaps in junior high. Just to see if I could do it." Thursday, Nate Garner did it.

And, while you could pick a lot of guys to symbolize what the Dolphins have done -- rallying back to 5-5 in spite of a rash of injuries -- the bespeckled, light-hearted Garner is a good place to start.

"Nate's an up-and-coming player," regular left guard starter Justin Smiley said. "Nate's a hell of a football player. As long as I've been playing, I've seen some good players, but his versatility is amazing."

A former seventh-round pick of the Jets out of Arkansas, Garner started the game at left guard because Smiley was still bothered by a sore shoulder. He moved to right tackle when Vernon Carey left for a few plays due to a bruised shin. He ended up at center after Jake Grove hurt his ankle and then Grove's backup, Joe Berger, hurt his ankle.

At that point, there were no other options. As it was, the injuries forced Smiley to play when he didn't expect to, and didn't feel comfortable coming in cold.

"I couldn't do it, even if I needed to do," right guard Donald Thomas said. "We probably would have had four, five, six, seven, eight fumbled snaps there. Nate did a great job today. My hat's off to him."

When Garner went in at center, Thomas tried to calm him down by offering to help make the calls.

"And I just told him when we had that one fumbled snap, 'Forget about it, we're in field goal range, just relax, just make sure you get the snap off,'" Thomas said.

"I wasn't messed up about it, even though I knew I messed up," Garner said. After all, it's not something Garner does all the time. He practices snaps about once a week.

Still, there was little he could do to prepare for the challenge he encountered Thursday.

"The angles are all different from every position," Garner said. "The stances are all a bit different. But you've just got to be able to roll with the flow, you know what I mean?"

So what position is next?

"I already played a little tight end earlier this year," Garner said. "So you never know."

You could say the same about this Dolphins team, from 0-3 to 5-5, even without numbers 10, 23, 25 and 38 -- and Thursday, also without 95 and 64.